Olenivka prison massacre

On 29 July 2022, Russian Armed Forces shelled a building housing Ukrainian prisoners of war in a Russian-operated prison in Molodizhne near Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast as a false flag operation during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, killing 53 to 62 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) and leaving 75 to 130 wounded. The prisoners were mainly soldiers belonging to the Azov regiment who defended the Azovstal complex, the last Ukrainian stronghold in the siege of Mariupol.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that the Russians blew up the barracks in order to cover up the torture and murder of Ukrainian POWs that had been taking place there, and Ukrainian authorities provided what they said were satellite images of pre-dug graves and intercepted communications indicating Russian culpability, while Russians suggested that a HIMARS rocket was shot from Ukrainian territory. Independent investigations based on the work of forensic and weapons experts, as well as satellite images, found that the Russian version of events is very likely fabrication and disinformation, as there is virtually no chance that the damage was caused by a HIMARS rocket and instead evidence suggests the prison was blown up by a bomb detonated within the building.

On 3 August 2022, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced his decision to establish a fact-finding mission, as requested both by Russia and Ukraine. However, Russia refused to cooperate with the UN and International Red Cross, and the fact-finding mission was disbanded. In July 2024, the Associated Press (AP) interviewed over a dozen people with direct knowledge about the attack, all of them describing the evidence pointing towards Russia being responsible. AP also obtained an internal UN analysis that pointed to Russia as the culprit.